Deformable mirror devices ("DMDs") are semiconductor devices containing at least one row of deflectable mirrors. The mirror position, which is controlled electronically, determines the path of reflected incident light. Deformable mirror devices may be manufactured with any number of mirror rows. By using high density mirror arrays, reflected light from the individual mirrors can be combined to form visual images.
The introduction of color to deformable mirror device systems has been problematic to date. One approach to full color deformable mirror device systems is to use three deformable mirror devices, each with a different primary color source or external color filter. The three monochrome deformable mirror device images are combined into a single image to produce the desired three color picture. This system has the disadvantages of complex chip alignment, output convergence, and excessive cost and package size of the related optic system.
The preferred approach to color light modulation, therefore, is to use a single deformable mirror device chip modified to produce the desired color image. Simply aligning a matrix of colored windows above the matrix of individual mirrors, however, is not satisfactory. The unmodulated light striking the deformable mirror device is supplied externally to the individual mirrors and off of the final viewing optical axis. Consequently, incident light would pass through the filter window structure twice before being observed with the possibility of passing through two different colored window elements. The optical alignment for using such an off-chip color filter window is complex.
Therefore a need has risen for a single chip deformable mirror device operable to accurately reproduce full color images.